


Inside of a Dog, It's Too Dark to Read

by Styx_in_the_mud



Series: Muggleborn Culture: A Ficlet Anthology [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Books, Gen, Libraries, Muggleborn Culture, Reading, muggleborn pride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 12:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2109321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Styx_in_the_mud/pseuds/Styx_in_the_mud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” -Groucho Marx<br/>There is a secret Library within the Hogwarts library. Inspired by flourishandblottsstories' headcanon on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inside of a Dog, It's Too Dark to Read

**Author's Note:**

> Original headcanon can be found [here](http://flourishandblottsstories.tumblr.com/post/88979161202/go-to-the-right-twelve-rows-down-three-cases-in)

1991

            When Hermione Granger had heard that Hogwarts had an enormous library that covered almost all magical topics, she was ecstatic. However, when she first visited it, the excitement diminished a bit. Though the library had books that covered everything from Mermish Syntax to the Goblin Revolutions of 199 A.D, there was not a single work of fiction in the entire room. Hermione enjoyed learning for learning’s sake, but in her darkest moments, she turned to fictional worlds as a reprieve from the dreariness of everyday life. Even though she was now living in one of the worlds she often visited in her head, she longed for the familiar words of her favorite stories, and she had a distinct feeling that there were others who had the same feeling. It took a while. Weeks of loneliness followed by months of the first real friendship she’d ever had. It wasn’t until Christmas break that she had an idea. While looking through her own library at home, it struck her how easy it would be to sneak a few into the Hogwarts library. Not only would she be able to read them, she reasoned, it would be a nice little surprise for other muggleborns as well. So she returned to school armed with her favorite fictions: _Wuthering_ _Heights_ , the _Katy_ series by Suzane Coolidge, _Little Women, Jane Eyre_ , and her all-time favorite, _Matilda_. It was a simple matter of switching the covers for the most boring ones in Madame Pince’s “To be tossed” pile, (books that were too damaged to keep on the shelves) and slipping them on a shelf. She left the library that day with a secretive smile on her face.

 

1992

            Harry Potter was reluctantly sitting in the library one afternoon, when he happened to spot Hermione giggling over a copy of _The Expansive History of the European Hortclump_ , _Second Edition_. Curiosity piqued, he wandered over to the bushy haired brunette, tapping her lightly on the shoulder. She started, and turned a bright red when she realized she’d been spotted. Timidly, she’d shown her friend the book in her hands, and he was shocked to find, instead of the History of the European Hortclump, that he was staring at a copy of Roald Dhal’s Matilda. After swearing him to secrecy, Hermione lead him to a portion of the library, twelve rows down, three cases in, down five shelves. She opened some of the books, with titles like _Goblin Smithing Techniques: 1230-1240_ , and he found that they held muggle fiction. He shared a grin with the girl. After the next holiday, Harry returned with some of Dudley’s old books. _Winnie-the-Pooh, Henry and Ribsy, Fantastic Mr.Fox_ , and _Five Children and It_ were all given new covers and placed next to Hermione’s selections.

 

1993

            Justin Finch-Fletchley hadn’t meant to overhear the conversation. He had wanted to talk to Harry at the feast last year, apologize for the Heir of Slytherin mess, when he’d heard Granger talking to him about a secret library. Interested in the discussion, the Hufflepuff confronted the two about it before he could think twice. What followed was an explanation that blew his mind, and an idea that appealed to him greatly. He asked, if he could add a few of his favorites to the collection. On the first day of third year, he found himself in the library after hours, painstakingly sticking a new cover on _The Crimean War_ (by Andrew Lambert) by the light of his wand. He had just finished when he heard a soft cough behind him. Turning, he saw a Ravenclaw prefect standing behind him. He vaguely recalled her being in the hospital wing after he’d been revived last year. He gulped, and stuttered out an explanation, deciding that it was better to tell the truth, and showed her some of the other books on the shelf. She nodded thoughtfully, telling him to get back to his dormitory, asking him to leave the rest of the books with her. He scurried off, grateful he hadn’t lost any points.

 

            Penelope Clearwater had been patrolling in the library, when shed noticed the light of a wand and muffled swearing. Following both the light and sound, she found a third year Hufflepuff sitting on the ground surrounded by books and covers. She coughed, alerting him to her presence. He stuttered out an explanation, a damn good one actually. After sending the boy off to his dorms, she finished sticking the covers on his books, and returned to her patrol. A week later _, Les Miserables_ , Lovecraft’s _The Nameless City_ , _Pet Sematary_ , and _Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch_ all found themselves on the shelf next to Justin’s histories.

 

1994

            Dean Thomas was running very, very late, so really, he could be excused for running down the hallway without looking where he was going. He did, however, come to a complete stop when he crashed into Justin Finch-Fletchly, sending the boy (and the books in his hands) sprawling. Dean swore, and then hastily apologized to the Hufflepuff, helping him gather up his books. As he handed them back, he noticed that the binding of _5001 Everyday Uses for Dragon Dung_ had come loose, and the pages were slipping out. Catching a glimpse of the words “ _Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your own home._ ” Dean’s interest was aroused, and Justin came forth with the entire story, offering to show him the shelf (which was actually 3 shelves, as the muggleborns [and Harry] continued to add books any chance they could get). Dean figured he could miss out on divination, he was running late any way. That afternoon found him switching the cover of _Boy: Tales of Childhood_ for _The Intricacies of Higher Mermish Syntax_ and his brand new copy of _City of Djinns_ for _An Extended History of Vampires in European Wizardry_. They were the only two books he had on hand, but he’d be adding more before the year was out.

 

1995

            Colin Creevey found his fourth year very tedious. Not only was the ministry sticking their nose into everone’s business, but classes had become a bit more difficult with the vague threat of OWLs looming in the distance. Personally, Collin didn’t understand why he needed to begin preparing for exams that were almost two years away, but his teachers were insistent on the fact. The only thing, he felt, which livened up the year was the DA meetings, even if they weren’t regular. It was possibly the only upside to the Ministry being interfering busy-bodies. It was actually because of the Head Interfering Busy-Body that Colin was in a bad mood. Umbridge had caught him reading one of his dad’s old books (he’d found it in the attic over the hols) when he should have been reading his boring old defense text. Umbridge had positively shrieked at him in that high pitched, saccharine voice of hers, all but snatched the book out of his hands, and had given him a detention. Ginny Weasley had managed to swipe the book back for him when the old Toad’s back was turned, but he still had detention in the evening. Which was why, when Dean entered the common room, he found Colin sitting dejectedly on one of the arm-chairs. After prying the story out of the younger boy, Dean decided to let him in on a secret. He told Colin to gather up all the muggle books he had with him, and lead the confused boy to the library. Colin lit up at the small collection of muggle fiction and non-fiction, and did not hesitate to add his own to the collection, which is how _Conan the Usurper_ (disguised as _The Roaming Patterns of the Garden Gnome_ ) found itself nestled in between _Matilda_ and _Les Miserables_.

 

2021

            Abby Rogers was hiding in a hallway off the second floor. The first year Ravenclaw didn’t want anyone to know she was crying. Only babies got cried, and she knew it. Hence, the hallway.

            “Hey, are you alright?”

Abby jumped slightly, and hastily dried her eyes. Looking up, she saw a Slytherin fifth year watching her. “I’m fine” she replied, though her voice shook unconvincingly, at least, the fifth Year didn’t look convinced.

            “What’s your name?”

            “Abby”

            “I’m Marcus.” The older boy peered at her for a while, before seeming to come to a conclusion. “Muggleborn?” he asked.

Abby nodded.

            “Me too!” He grinned at her “Let me guess, you’re feeling a little homesick.”

Abby swallowed thickly. “Yeah, I mean, I know it’s silly. We’re living a dream here. I mean, there’s magic! But I miss my family, and my dog, and my books….” The girl trailed off, looking ready to cry again.

Marcus jumped up. “Well Abby, you’re lucky I found you. Follow me!” He headed off, leaving the baffled first year to catch up.

            “You’ve been to the library before, yeah?”

The girl nodded. Marcus grinned “Well, I bet, you’ve never seen this.”

He lead the girl Twelve rows in and made a grand hand gesture. Abby squinted at the books on the shelf. They didn’t seem all that special, actually, they seemed rather boring. Marcus reached out, trailing his fingers across the spines, until he seemed to find the one he was looking for. “This one’s my favorite.” He said, pulling it off the shelf and handing it to her.

            “Your favorite book is…” Abby looked down at the tome in her hand “ _The Migratory Patterns of The Mountain Giants of Britain and Ireland_?”

            Marcus just grinned. “Open it”

            “Okay…” said the girl, skeptically, carefully opening the book. She gasped. The words that greeted her, rather than having anything to do with giants, were “ _All children, except one, grow up_ ”. She looked up at the older boy. “Is this _Peter Pan_? Here?”

Marcus nodded. “Welcome to the Muggleborn Library” he said “one of the best kept secrets in Hogwarts.”

            “But…how?”

            “It was started back in the 90’s, by Hermione Granger herself! Back then, it only took up one shelf. Over the years, muggleborns have been adding to the collection, and now we have an entire row. It’s a safe haven for muggleborns who miss home.” He winked at her. “We’re pretty sure the librarian’s figured it out. Doesn’t even blink when we check out _The Expansive History of the European Hortclump_ twice in a row. Why don’t you take a look around?”

She didn’t need to be told twice. She pulled books off the shelves at random, though she was careful to put them back where she found them. Flipping through the books, she found a copy of _Much Ado About Nothing_ , annotated in several different hands, The entire _Percy Jackson_  series (both of them!), A Pumpkin juice-stained copy of a P.G Woodehouse novel, _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_ (with bits underlined in red), _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy_ with a doodle of a rocket ship on the first page _,_ Neil Gaiman’s  _Graveyard Book_ which may have been dropped in the bath (most of the damage was cleared up, but there are some things even magic can’t fix), and a battered copy of _The Hobbit_ , which, if Abby was reading it correctly, had been donated to the library by her current Transfiguration professor.

            “Thank you so much for showing me this!” she said to Marcus, who was flipping through a Batman New 52 comic ( _Goblin-Wizard Peace Negotiations: 1123-1126_ ).

            The boy just grinned and said “Just doing my duty, muggleborns need to help each other out.” and sauntered off to check out his comic book, leaving Abby to marvel at the library-within-a-library. Suddenly, she didn’t feel quite as sad anymore. 

**Author's Note:**

> So I really loved this headcanon, so this turned into my longest story yet in this series (though to be fair, the headcanon was pretty long as well). I actually have more to go with this headcanon, but I couldn't fit it into this story. 
> 
> Basically, after many years of the Library being a thing, some of the students decided there should be some sort of system of organization. Eventually, they were grouped by Genre corresponding to Fake Title, for example Children's Fiction was given titles pertaining to dark creatures of a higher rating (Like giants and Vampires), Comic books and Graphic novels under titles having to do with law and legality, and so on (this was implemented after the original bunch left Hogwarts, so although Marcus liked to check out the book about Hortclumps, it's not the same book as the one Hermione put there.)
> 
> Concerning Marcus and Abby: The two of them become friends in the way that you become friends with your seniors. After Winter break, she comes to him with a pile of her own books, to add to the collection, asking his help to switch out the covers. Both of them are pretty sure Hogwarts library is _growing_ new shelves to encompass all these books without displacing what's already there. Years later, Abby pays it forward, when she sees a little muggleborn Hufflepuff crying in the girls toilet because she misses her old school friends. 
> 
> (Yeah I'm kind of invested in this one, can you tell?)
> 
> The idea of Hermione's favorite book being Matilda was borrowed from another headcanon, and if anyone knows which one, please let me know because I can't find it :(


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